Academy Award for Best Actress

The Academy Award for Best Actress is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. The winners are chosen by the Academy membership as a whole. Following the Academy's practice, the films below are listed by release year: for example, the Oscar for "Best Actress in 1999" was announced during the award ceremony held in 2000. Winners are listed first, followed by the other nominees.

1930s

• 1930 Norma Shearer - The Divorcee
• Nancy Carroll - The Devil's Holiday
• Ruth Chatterton - Sarah and Son
• Greta Garbo - Anna Christie and Romance
• Norma Shearer - Their Own Desire
• Gloria Swanson - The Trespasser
• 1931 Marie Dressler - Min and Bill
• Marlene Dietrich - Morocco
• Irene Dunne - Cimarron
• Ann Harding - Holiday
• Norma Shearer - A Free Soul
• 1932 Helen Hayes - The Sin of Madelon Claudet
• Marie Dressler - Emma
• Lynn Fontanne - The Guardsman
• 1933 Katharine Hepburn - Morning Glory
• May Robson - Lady for a Day
• Diana Wynyard - Cavalcade
• 1934 Claudette Colbert - It Happened One Night
• Grace Moore - One Night of Love
• Norma Shearer - The Barretts of Wimpole Street
• 1935 Bette Davis - Dangerous
• Elisabeth Bergner - Escape Me Never
• Claudette Colbert - Private Worlds
• Katharine Hepburn - Alice Adams
• Miriam Hopkins - Becky Sharp
• Merle Oberon - The Dark Angel
• 1936 Luise Rainer - The Great Ziegfeld
• Irene Dunne - Theodora Goes Wild
• Gladys George - Valiant Is the Word for Carrie
• Carole Lombard - My Man Godfrey
• Norma Shearer - Romeo and Juliet
• 1937 Luise Rainer - The Good Earth
• Irene Dunne - The Awful Truth
• Greta Garbo - Camille
• Janet Gaynor - A Star Is Born
• Barbara Stanwyck - Stella Dallas
• 1938 Bette Davis - Jezebel
• Fay Bainter - White Banners
• Wendy Hiller - Pygmalion
• Norma Shearer - Marie Antoinette
• Margaret Sullavan - Three Comrades
• 1939 Vivien Leigh - Gone with the Wind
• Bette Davis - Dark Victory
• Irene Dunne - Love Affair
• Greta Garbo - Ninotchka
• Greer Garson - Goodbye, Mr. Chips